MLL: Machine's schedule gives no favors

After beginning its second season with a bye, the Ohio Machine lost its Major League Lacrosse opener to perennial contender and league runner-up Denver last week.

Shawn Mitchell, The Columbus Dispatch

After beginning its second season with a bye, the Ohio Machine lost its Major League Lacrosse opener to perennial contender and league runner-up Denver last week.

Tonight, in Game 2, the Machine will play defending champion Chesapeake in Annapolis, Md., and play host to another playoff team, New York, next week.

“I don’t think the schedule gods did us any favors with that one,” Machine general manager John Algie said. “But there are no easy games anywhere in this league. We may as well see where we stack up with the big boys.”

The Machine, 2-12 in its inaugural season, has its measuring stick in hand early. Its first three opponents are a combined 5-1.

By the end of the season’s first month, Ohio will have faced the league MVP (Brendan Mundorf of Denver), rookie of the year (Matt Gibson of New York), coach of the year (Joe Spallina of New York), defensive player of the year (Lee Zink of Denver) and goaltender of the year (Drew Adams of New York).

Chesapeake and New York have combined to win six Steinfeld Cups. Denver has played in four finals since 2006 and never missed the playoffs.

The last-place Machine followed two weekends of training camp with a week off. It and the Hamilton Nationals did not play during the season’s first weekend.

Its early-season schedule is far from ideal.

“I try not to emphasize that around the players,” Machine coach Ted Garber said. “But it is what it is. It gives you a little more time to rest and some time to think. You might lose your edge a little bit, but I really don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome of our first game (a 13-8 loss to the visiting Outlaws).”

The Machine had only a single weekend of preseason camp last year. That doubled this season, and there was cohesion and optimism heading into this month.

“Our guys were excited to get going,” Garber said. “You’re all pumped up and then you have a break. It bursts the bubble a little bit. But we’ll be fine.”

The Machine will need to see more of the ball if it is collect the franchise’s second road win tonight. Ohio lost 17 of 25 faceoffs against Denver, 13 of them to former Machine and Ohio State faceoff specialist Anthony Kelly, who was traded to Denver in July.

“I think we can generate opportunities to score,” Garber said. “We just have to score. If you don’t have the ball in this league, it makes it hard.”

The Machine attack should be boosted by the addition of Connor Martin. Martin, who missed the opener because of an upper body injury, was one of three Ohio attackmen to score more than 20 goals (23) and have more than 30 points (32) last season.